Judgment

B.P. Singh, J.—Special leave granted.

2. The appellant herein was found guilty of the offence under Section 302 read with Section 34 of the Indian Penal Code and was sentenced to undergo imprisonment for life and to pay a fine of Rs. 2,000/-. He preferred an appeal before the High Court of Punjab and Haryana at Chandigarh against his conviction and sentence which was registered as Criminal Appeal No. 29-DB of 2000. The said appeal was admitted for hearing on November 3, 2001. The appellant’s application for grant of regular bail was dismissed by order dated September 8, 2004. One of the co-accused namely, Satwant Singh was granted bail by the High Court by order dated September 17, 2004 since he had suffered imprisonment for three years after his conviction and, therefore, was covered by the ratio of the judgment in Dharampal Vs. State of Haryana : 2000 (1) C.L.R. 74.

3. The case of the appellant is that his case is also covered by the said judgment and, therefore, he should also be released on bail. It was submitted on his behalf that in terms of the law as laid down in Dharampal’s case, he having undergone more than three years of actual sentence he deserves to be released